Suppose the ST IV probe came to Coruscant?

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-20 10:15pm

We all have, hopefully, seen the big probe in Star Trek IV that wiped out all electronics and ships on it's way to Earth. Now Suppose said ship was on the Way to Coruscant sometime between ANH and EST, what would happen to coruscant?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-20 10:24pm

Given the Empire's nature, somewhere along the line they would've fired a few turbolaser volleys at it.

How much damage those shots do and how the probe responds, I don't know.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-01-20 10:27pm

Shinova wrote:Given the Empire's nature, somewhere along the line they would've fired a few turbolaser volleys at it.

How much damage those shots do and how the probe responds, I don't know.

Didn't Marina once post some info from the novelization about how it could be damaged with Romulan weapons?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-20 10:41pm

Darth Wong wrote: Didn't Marina once post some info from the novelization about how it could be damaged with Romulan weapons?

Then the probe arrives.

Imperials hail it.

Probe responds with whale sounds.

Imperial: "I'm sorry, your authorization codes do not match."

The whale probe disappears in a cloud of dust a few seconds later.

Or something along that line, I guess.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-20 10:58pm

Shinova wrote:
Darth Wong wrote: Didn't Marina once post some info from the novelization about how it could be damaged with Romulan weapons?
Then the probe arrives.

Imperials hail it.

Probe responds with whale sounds.

Imperial: "I'm sorry, your authorization codes do not match."

The whale probe disappears in a cloud of dust a few seconds later.

Or something along that line, I guess.

Is it not possible their power would be knocked off line BEFORE they get the chance to vape the thing?

Kerneth · Post by **Kerneth** » 2004-01-20 11:03pm

Straha wrote: Is it not possible their power would be knocked off line BEFORE they get the chance to vape the thing?

This is assuming that the ability to disable Federation power technology indicates the ability to disable Imperial power generation technology. The two are vastly different, and thus, no assumption of that nature can be made.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-20 11:05pm

Kerneth wrote:
Straha wrote: Is it not possible their power would be knocked off line BEFORE they get the chance to vape the thing?
This is assuming that the ability to disable Federation power technology indicates the ability to disable Imperial power generation technology. The two are vastly different, and thus, no assumption of that nature can be made.

And even so, it took a while for the power shutdown to complete.

During that period, the Imperials could get off a few turbolaser bolts. That'd be all they need.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-20 11:15pm

Kerneth wrote:
Straha wrote: Is it not possible their power would be knocked off line BEFORE they get the chance to vape the thing?
This is assuming that the ability to disable Federation power technology indicates the ability to disable Imperial power generation technology. The two are vastly different, and thus, no assumption of that nature can be made.

You assume, of course, that it wouldn't? Coal generation and Nuclear power are far different power-generation devices, yet an EMP (not saying that the ship used an EMP) still disrupts the power of both.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-01-20 11:19pm

Irrelevant. The power-disrupting capabilities of the alien probe are short-ranged; none of the vessels it encountered were entirely disabled at all (they still had communications power, and Kirk's BOP had enough functional navigational systems to successfully land in San Francisco). And even their limited degradation of system function did not take place until the probe was very close to them (a few tens of thousands of kilometres).

Add it up and you've got a dead probe. Even a miniscule fraction of an ISD's power is still far more than a squadron of Romulan ships, and even if nearby ships were completely shut down, Coruscant gets so much traffic in and out (both comm traffic and ship traffic) that word would get out immediately, and reinforcements would quickly arrive. Someone would simply fire a shot from outside the affected area.

Kerneth · Post by **Kerneth** » 2004-01-20 11:25pm

Straha wrote:
Kerneth wrote:
Straha wrote: Is it not possible their power would be knocked off line BEFORE they get the chance to vape the thing?
This is assuming that the ability to disable Federation power technology indicates the ability to disable Imperial power generation technology. The two are vastly different, and thus, no assumption of that nature can be made.
You assume, of course, that it wouldn't? Coal generation and Nuclear power are far different power-generation devices, yet an EMP (not saying that the ship used an EMP) still disrupts the power of both.

I'm not assuming they wouldn't, either. I don't know enough about how the device disabled the power grid or exactly how Imperial (civilian) power generation works to *have* an opinion. On the other hand, using the EMP example, an EMP disables insufficiently shielded power generators but wouldn't affect a properly hardened system. That's further ignoring the fact that Coruscant has a double-layered planetary shield grid that is continuously activated and may well protect against whatever attack the probe used. Finally, the probe may be able to disable the civilian power generation technology...and not affect the warships in the slightest because they are using a completely different technology. Which would shortly thereafter result in at least one and probably more Imperial Star Destroyers opening fire on the probe with heavy turbolasers.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-20 11:29pm

Darth Wong wrote:Irrelevant. The power-disrupting capabilities of the alien probe are short-ranged; none of the vessels it encountered were entirely disabled at all (they still had communications power, and Kirk's BOP had enough functional navigational systems to successfully land in San Francisco). And even their limited degradation of system function did not take place until the probe was very close to them (a few tens of thousands of kilometres).

Actually, having watched the movie recently, the biggest plot hole in the movie is the fact that they DON'T pilot themselves down to San-Fran. They just land their.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-01-20 11:30pm

Hell, all you would need to stop the Whale Probe would be to launch toss some Star Wars heavy rockets at it.

Post by **Kuja** » 2004-01-21 02:56am

Darth Wong wrote:
Shinova wrote:Given the Empire's nature, somewhere along the line they would've fired a few turbolaser volleys at it.

How much damage those shots do and how the probe responds, I don't know.
Didn't Marina once post some info from the novelization about how it could be damaged with Romulan weapons?

IIRC it ran into some Borg cubes and they managed to damage its memory banks.

The only effect a Romulan attack had was to piss it off.

HRogge · Post by **HRogge** » 2004-01-21 08:31am

Straha wrote:You assume, of course, that it wouldn't? Coal generation and Nuclear power are far different power-generation devices, yet an EMP (not saying that the ship used an EMP) still disrupts the power of both.

But a good old "diesel" engine would survive the EMP without problems...

( a coal heater would not notice the EMP too )

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2004-01-21 12:33pm

Straha wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Irrelevant. The power-disrupting capabilities of the alien probe are short-ranged; none of the vessels it encountered were entirely disabled at all (they still had communications power, and Kirk's BOP had enough functional navigational systems to successfully land in San Francisco). And even their limited degradation of system function did not take place until the probe was very close to them (a few tens of thousands of kilometres).
Actually, having watched the movie recently, the biggest plot hole in the movie is the fact that they DON'T pilot themselves down to San-Fran. They just land their.

They couldn't possibly have just crash landed and gotten lucky! The Enterprise-D underwent a partially controlled crash landing in GEN, and ended up with the spaceframe being shattered! If the BoP did fly completely out of control, it would have been pulverised upon landing. Add that to the inevitable escape of antimatter, and Starfleet Command's day would get a whole lot worse!

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-21 04:12pm

DaveJB wrote:
Straha wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Irrelevant. The power-disrupting capabilities of the alien probe are short-ranged; none of the vessels it encountered were entirely disabled at all (they still had communications power, and Kirk's BOP had enough functional navigational systems to successfully land in San Francisco). And even their limited degradation of system function did not take place until the probe was very close to them (a few tens of thousands of kilometres).
Actually, having watched the movie recently, the biggest plot hole in the movie is the fact that they DON'T pilot themselves down to San-Fran. They just land their.
They couldn't possibly have just crash landed and gotten lucky! The Enterprise-D underwent a partially controlled crash landing in GEN, and ended up with the spaceframe being shattered! If the BoP did fly completely out of control, it would have been pulverised upon landing. Add that to the inevitable escape of antimatter, and Starfleet Command's day would get a whole lot worse!

Kirk: Sulu, try to guide us in on manual.
Sulu: I've got nothing sir.

Only plausible explanation: Kirk's uniform was half open, thus barely being qualified as "ripped." Hence charecter shields saved him and the ship.

As I said, world's third biggest plot-hole.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-01-21 04:52pm

Actually, it can be explained by Spock having plotted the time jump back to exit with the Bird of Prey aimed towards San Fransico as a precaution against the Probes energy draining abilities

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2004-01-21 05:25pm

Straha wrote:We all have, hopefully, seen the big probe in Star Trek IV that wiped out all electronics and ships on it's way to Earth. Now Suppose said ship was on the Way to Coruscant sometime between ANH and EST, what would happen to coruscant?

Quite frankly the whale probe would be pounded into dust for attacking the Imperial Capital. Even if, by some meriacle, the probe managed to shutdown all power on a planet that has probably more then a couple hundred trillion people, they would not be able to shutdown communications before an alert was sent out. More then likely the planetary ion cannons would shoot it down and they would study the probe, or the turbolasers would blast the thing to heck. If this failed then some ISDs would be perfect for destroying this thing.

How big was the whale probe?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-21 05:46pm

Techno_Union wrote:How big was the whale probe?

70 or 90 kms I think.

There's a really good ship size comparison site, the link of which I can't recall right now.

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2004-01-21 05:49pm

Solauren wrote:Actually, it can be explained by Spock having plotted the time jump back to exit with the Bird of Prey aimed towards San Fransico as a precaution against the Probes energy draining abilities

The problem isn't that it landed near San Francisco, it's that it managed to land without suffering any major damage. If it were totally out of control, then it would have been either flash-fried upon re-entry, or would have impacted the ground (or sea, such as it was) with such force that San Francisco would have been reduced to a crater.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-01-21 06:21pm

http://www.merzo.net/

It's about 74 km long.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-01-21 07:07pm

To mess with the planet the Probe's signal would require Coruscant to have seas otherwise most of the effects would be eliminated.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-01-21 09:28pm

I thought Coruscant did have seas. Very polluted, of course, but still seas. At least by several accounts.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-01-21 10:02pm

Solauren wrote:Actually, it can be explained by Spock having plotted the time jump back to exit with the Bird of Prey aimed towards San Fransico as a precaution against the Probes energy draining abilities

That can be, somewhat, explained. But how the hell do they make a landing, in San Fran bay, that doesn't severlly damage the ship?

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2004-01-22 12:38am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:http://www.merzo.net/

It's about 74 km long.

Bah, he changed the site for the worse, it now says the DS2 is only 160 km in diameter and the Executor is only 12km long.

I remember at least the DS2 had the correct size before, there even was a comparison of the DS2 and the moon, i think.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Suppose the ST IV probe came to Coruscant?

Suppose the ST IV probe came to Coruscant?

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